Sorry, I got distracted by your looks Chapter 1

1. My Husband-to-Be Has Changed

 

A mansion shrouded in pitch-black darkness—Marquis Uzcal’s estate in the Harlan Empire.

Creaaak.

The eerie silence, where even the drop of a needle could be heard, was broken as the door at the far west end of the second floor creaked open.

“Lady Leah, there’s no one outside.”

Millie, my maid, cautiously peeked out before stepping into the hallway with a bag in hand.

I followed suit, gripping my own bag tightly and pulling the black hood over my head. I walked quietly, muffling my footsteps as I slipped out of the room.

As the door clicked shut behind us, Millie and I hurried down the second-floor hallway, descending the western staircase to the first floor.

In my haste, my hood slipped off, revealing my silky platinum hair under the pitch-black darkness. But I was too tense to notice.

When Millie glanced back at me, her face went pale as if she’d seen a ghost.

“Gasp!”

“Shh, Millie, be quiet!”

I quickly clapped a hand over her mouth.

“I’m sorry, my lady. But put your hood back on! Your hair—it’s like a lit candle in the dark.”

Finally realizing the problem, I hastily pulled my hood back up. At once, as if someone had snuffed out a candle, we were swallowed by darkness again.

“Wait, what’s that noise?”

Suddenly, voices murmured near the entrance. Millie and I instinctively ducked beneath the stairs.

A moment later, the front door swung open, and a disheveled Juan—the butler—rushed inside, heading straight for the marquis and marchioness’s bedroom on the second floor.

“Lady Leah, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know. But we need to get out of here—fast.”

Before I could figure out what was happening, the second-floor hallway lit up, growing increasingly rowdy.

“Juan, are you serious? He really came at this hour?”

“Yes, my lord. Even I was shocked.”

At the urgent voice of my father, Marquis Derek Uzcal, my face went pale.

If we got caught now, everything would be over!

Hearing the hurried footsteps of the marquis and Juan descending the stairs, I panicked and yanked Millie toward the nearest hall, slipping inside to hide.

“Lady Leah, who could have arrived at this hour?”

“I don’t know, but whoever it is, they’re clearly out of their mind.”

My frustration grew. If our plan got ruined from the very start, we’d be in serious trouble…

“If we wait too long, Master Robby might start worrying.”

“We have no choice. Whoever it is, it’s late. They’ll go to bed soon. Once things quiet down, we’ll sneak out. Robby can wait a little longer.”

While Millie pressed her ear to the door to listen outside, I took a moment to scan our surroundings.

Bathed in soft moonlight, the luxurious room was decorated with elegant curtains, chandeliers, and paintings—more opulent than any other in the mansion.

“Millie, where are we? It’s so spacious and extravagant.”

I had lived in this estate for twelve years as the marquis’s illegitimate daughter, confined to the farthest room in the west wing due to the marchioness and my half-sister Hailey’s hostility.

Aside from rare occasions, I wasn’t allowed to dine with the family, nor was I welcome in the parlor. Before today, I had only stepped into the family drawing room twice.

This room, so grand and unfamiliar, felt almost surreal.

“Oh! This is the VIP reception hall. The marchioness made quite a fuss this morning, forcing the servants to clean it spotless.”

Millie responded without looking up, still focused on listening at the door.

“Really?”

“Yes. The King of Pritan is supposed to visit in five days, so…”

“Ah!!”

Mid-sentence, Millie gasped and clamped her mouth shut, sneaking a glance at me.

Her reaction made sense—at the mention of the King of Pritan, my expression had turned ice-cold.

Just then, the door burst open, and the room was suddenly flooded with light.

“Ahh!!”

Millie, who had been pressed against the door, nearly tumbled backward but swiftly hid behind it in the nick of time.

“The Uzcal Marquisate is usually more organized than this, but your sudden arrival caught us off guard. We didn’t expect you at this hour, Your Majesty. Please, step inside.”

Suppressing his irritation with an artificial smile, Marquis Uzcal ushered his guest into the room.

Beside him stood two burly men—one already imposing, but the other even taller by a head, radiating a suffocating presence that made it hard to meet his gaze.

‘No way… is that the King of Pritan, Mikrok?’

His sharp nose and jawline, pale complexion untouched by the sun, and cold, indifferent gaze made him look all the more ruthless.

But…

‘Damn, he’s ridiculously handsome!’

Even in this chaos, I couldn’t help but be struck by how impossibly good-looking he was.

‘Wait… could he be the “face-genius” I was looking for? Do I need to rethink my entire plan?’

As I processed the flood of thoughts, Mikrok’s piercing gaze suddenly locked onto me, sending an unfamiliar pressure coursing through my body.

“If you’ll wait here for a moment, we’ll prepare your chambers… Hm? And who might you be?”

The marquis, who had been welcoming his guest with feigned courtesy, instantly turned sharp-eyed when he spotted me standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

“Marquis, it’s me.”

Realizing I had no choice, I slowly lowered my hood.

As my platinum hair and fair face were revealed, the marquis frowned in confusion.

“Leah? What are you doing here…?”

At that moment, the hallway outside erupted again. The marchioness and Hailey had finally arrived, hastily dressed after being woken from their sleep.

“Marquis, how could you keep our esteemed guest waiting like this? We should—oh my! What is she doing here in that outfit?”

Finally noticing my attire, the marquis’s gaze darkened.

A long, black hooded cloak draped over my frame, barely concealing the traveling clothes beneath it. Beside me sat my luggage.

Now, every single pair of eyes in the room was fixed on me.

“Well, you see…”

I tried to stay calm, but my fingers trembled involuntarily.

How was I supposed to explain this mess?

****

This disastrous situation had begun a month ago when the marquis and marchioness summoned me to the family drawing room.

In the twelve years I had lived in this house, this was the first time I had ever been invited to a family gathering.

I had always eaten separately with my maid, Millie, in my isolated west wing room. To them, I was a shadow—barely acknowledged. I wasn’t even allowed to call the marquis Father.

Yet that day, they called me into the drawing room and, without any warning, dropped a bombshell:

“The Emperor has chosen you to be his twelfth concubine. What an honor!”

The marchioness practically squealed with excitement.

The Emperor.

Sixty-three years old.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

On the surface, the Uzcal estate appeared grand, but in reality, my father, Marquis Uzcal, had recently suffered major financial losses due to failed investments.

Drowning in debt, the marquis and his wife saw me as their golden ticket—a daughter with nothing but good looks to offer, perfect for securing an advantageous marriage.

But I had absolutely no intention of fulfilling their wishes.

More importantly, I couldn’t.

Because the Emperor of Harlan—an old, cunning man—was not the husband my mother had wished for me.

***

Until I was eight, my mother, Yurahel, and I lived alone in one of the worst slums in the empire.

Why a woman as breathtakingly beautiful as my mother ended up there, I never knew.

Despite the countless men who offered to “protect” us, she turned them all away, choosing instead to endure grueling labor just to raise me.

Then, one fateful night—just two days before Marquis Uzcal came looking for us—my mother, who had been suffering from a persistent cough, finally succumbed to her illness.

As she lay on her deathbed, she held my tiny hand in her trembling grasp and whispered her final wish:

“Your husband… must be… yoouu… cough… must be… incredibly handsome… Leah…”

Those were her last words.

With tears welling in her eyes, as if unwilling to leave me behind, she exhaled her final breath—her eyes still open.

“Mom! No, don’t die, Mom!!!”

At just eight years old, I was left utterly devastated by her death.